Romans 1:1-7
This text is used for the Lectionary Year A on December 18th, 2016.
In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome, we have the gospel he has developed over his twenty years as an apostle. This is the gospel he has been preaching and teaching as he has planted churches on three missionary journeys throughout the eastern Mediterranean world. This is the gospel that he crafts especially for the Christians in Rome. This is the gospel that he hopes to take to the western Mediterranean world, including Spain.
Paul begins his longest letter with the longest greeting in any of his letters. It is longer because he did not start, nor had he visited, the Christians in Rome. He describes himself with three phrases: 1) “a servant of Jesus Christ;” 2) “called to be an apostle;” and 3) “set apart for the gospel of God.”